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Virginia O'Hanlon
American teacher (1889ā1971) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Laura Virginia O'Hanlon Douglas (July 20, 1889 ā May 13, 1971) was an American educator best known for writing a letter as a child to the New York newspaper The Sun that inspired the 1897 editorial "Is There a Santa Claus?". The editorial, by Francis Pharcellus Church, contains the line "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus", and brought attention to O'Hanlon for the rest of her life. Historian Gerald Bowler called it "the most famous editorial in history."
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